The Van's Last Day

Newsletter 2021-07-25

What’s the most you’ve ever paid for “free” babysitting? For me, it’s roughly $31,000.

It all started with a phone call. My pocket vibrated, and I looked down to see my eleven-year-old, Betsy, was trying to contact me. That was unusual. She and her three younger sisters were staying with my wife Lola’s parents for two days. That was out of the ordinary, too. Not that they don’t love their grandparents. My kids absolutely adore anyone with too few rules and too much candy. Instead, what made this situation atypical was that my mother-in-law, Dottie, had actually requested the kids. Usually, we have to force our children on other people, even the ones related to us by blood. Scratch that. ESPECIALLY the ones related to us. My parents and my in-laws have raised eleven kids between them. They’re not falling for that again. But this time, Dottie had two days off work and thought it would be fun to take my kids to the county fair and her neighborhood pool. I didn’t disabuse her of her optimi…